The Fug girls make a “Spoiled” appearance at Macy’s

As much as you don’t want to admit it, you probably have read a celebrity-based blog when you should be doing work — and one of those blogs was probably GoFugYourself.com, an irreverent, no-holds-barred celebrity fashion blog by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan.

With journalistic backgrounds, the two connected while writing for the website, Television Without Pity. Soon after, they found another bond.

Started in July 2004, the blog was the result of a casual day at a Beverly Hills mall when the duo was wandering through the mall and making fun of the poor style and quality of movie posters geared toward tween audiences. They started to refer to them as “fugly.”

They wanted to keep that momentum going, so they started a blog based on the concept of ripping the fashions of celebrities apart.

“We didn’t think anyone would read it except our friends and it would fizzle out in a month or two,” says Heather. “People started to read it it and the blog kind of exploded. … We accidentally stumbled upon something that no one else was really doing.”

Thus Go Fug Yourself was born.

Heather and Jessica eventually left their day jobs as producers of reality television shows like “America’s Next Top Model” and “Making the Band” and decided to turn their focus on their blog — which now has a huge following. It also spun off a young adult novel titled “Spoiled”, which follows the same rich & famous, dirt-dishing tone as their blog.

The pair will make a “Spoiled” appearance at Macy’s Union Square starting at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 16. While there, you will have the opportunity to meet the Fug Gals and get a copy of your book signed.

We had the opportunity to chat with Heather and Jessica about the celebrity fashion blogosphere, Gaga fatigue and why they don’t consider themselves fashion journalists.

When you first started GoFugYourself.com, what did you NOT want it to be?

Jessica: Because we didn’t think anyone was ever going to read it, we kind of didn’t have editorial decisions. We didn’t make them, they just sort of happened. We were lucky because when we started the blog, there weren’t as many as there are now. We had good timing. We always wanted to be focused. We just wanted to talk about outfits celebrities were wearing. We weren’t going to do gossip or anything like that. We wanted to be very “niche” about it. We try to talk about the clothes and not the person or their body — that’s probably our big editorial caveat. People were born the way they were — but you can always change what you’re wearing.

Heather: That was the distinction early on — ugly is self-inflicted. Obviously with these celebrities, they are (more) genetically blessed than we ever hope to be. They have all these resources that we probably don’t even understand and they are making the same “WTF” mistakes that we do — so in a way, it humanizes them. We aren’t really out to hurt people’s feelings, we just want to have fun. As we always say, we don’t hate your soul, we just hate your pants.

Q: Is there one celeb that is difficult to make fun of? Who is an easy target?

A: Jessica: I don’t think there is anybody we won’t make fun of — but there are a lot of people we preface making fun of with “I hate to do this, but I really love this person …” I don’t think we are going to hold back. I mean, I love Kelly Clarkson — but she can’t dress at all. Every time we put her on the blog, I want to be her best friend and say, “Let’s go shopping!” so we can get her out of that outfit. For her, I put her on the blog out of love — I want to fix her!

A: Heather: A lot of it depends on what’s happening with these people at the time. When Lady Gaga first started out, she was all shock and awe and kind of fun. Now, it’s so exhausting. Whenever there’s a Lady Gaga picture, I say, “Ugh. I’m so tired. Maybe Jess will do it.” Jessica Simpson was another one. She was crazy overexposed. Now I am rooting for her. It’s not pity, it’s just that she seems like a really nice kid and she can’t get it together. I really want her to, but every time she shows up in something, I cradle my head and say, “I don’t want to do this to you, but girl — you have to get it together!”

Do you think the red carpet is even exciting anymore?

A: Jessica: It’s always exciting! Talking about celebrity outfits is entertaining! If it gets to the point where I find it doesn’t amuse me anymore, then we will be in a bad situation. We always say our job is to create procrastination material for people who have really important jobs.

A: Heather: I will never be bored with looking at pretty clothes. And I will really never be bored with looking at insane clothes. We always rub our hands together with glee when it’s awards season. From the Golden Globes to the Oscars to the Met Ball — which is probably the best than all the other ones combined. If we ever get bored of this, then I’ll just quit and move to Canada and buy an alpaca farm.

Would you consider yourself fashion journalists?

A: Jessica: No. I don’t think so. I feel a fashion journalist is someone like Cathy Horyn who has a great span of knowledge. What we do is more pop culture commentary — but we use fashion to get our way into it. I wouldn’t consider it fashion journalism exactly.

A: Heather: I don’t either. I sometimes don’t think of us as a fashion blog even though we do blog about clothes. I am less of a fashion person than Jessica. She reads W and Vogue. What I bring to it is a perspective of looking at an outfit in the context of how it’s being worn rather than saying, “Oh! It’s so directional!” Bringing that kind of remove to it is one way we work as blog.

What do you think is the current state of “the blogosphere”?

A: Jessica: There are way more blogs than we first started. I think at this point, it is difficult to start a blog and get attention. The market is really saturated — but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. People are always going to need reading material. As a format, I think blogs are here to stay.

A: Heather: It’s very democratizing. If you told me 10 years ago that I was going to have a day job ripping on red carpet clothing I would’ve said, “Yeah right — I am so sure!” We are lucky that we got in early. With so many more blogs out there, it’s great. it’s the best way to find out who you are as a writer.

Have you ever been approached by a celeb you made fun of or any remorse with what you have written?

A: Jessica: As far as remorse goes, I don’t think so. We were on a celebrity fashion show a couple of years ago and there was a segment of the show where the host said, “Two years ago you said this about a celebrity. Before she read it I thought, ‘Oh my God, what did I say?’ Then she’d read it and I would say, ‘Oh yeah! I totally stand by that!’ As far as celebrities go, by and large, any celebrity that has contacted us has been a very good sport about it. Kirsten Dunst commented at a press junket how she was a big fan of the blog — and we were very, very mean to her! So she was a very good sport. Someone like J.Lo probably has too much going on to read about what we say about her pants.

A: Heather: It’s always really heartening to see people realize that it is all in good fun and done in great affection.

For more information on their appearance at Macy’s, visitmacys.com. Read more fashion news here.